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Learning is crucial for a positive culture, but it hardly ever happens without mistakes, hickups, or failures. Learning fast, and learning from others’ failures as well, helps your organization become more agile and better. In conventional cultures, however, it’s not common to admit failures even though failure is critical to success. In nuclear plant accidents, the NASA Challenger disaster and …

When was the last time you learned something new? Being a newbie again, can be a wonderful experience. People who thrive have a sense of learning and vitality, as Gretchen Spreitzer and Christine Porath found. Flow, as Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi showed, is the state where you are challenged and learn, but though there is a “stretch” you are not challenged beyond …

You probably know the story of three masons chipping chunks of granite from large blocks. When a bypasser asked what they were doing, the first Mason said: “I’m cutting stones”. The second man replied: “I am building a wall.” The third, who was humming a tune as he worked, smiled, “I am building a cathedral!” Job, career, or calling? That …

What I’ve learned about improving meetings in my client work aligns with Dan Mezick’s tips to “game your meetings”. Mezick learned this as a Scrum consultant who helped organizations adopt this agile approach to software development. The Scrum methodology aims to create a learning climate that values quick testing and experimenting, inspection and interaction to avoid the expensive, lengthy software …

Let’s take another look at meetings as they are important indicators of organizational culture. We’ve checked why there are meetings. This week, let’s look at what happens in meetings. Meet how? The How: How often are meetings held, and with whom? Is it a standard circus, like the bi-weekly team meeting, scheduled with an iron format? Or are meetings incidentally …

Hey, Valentines. We were talking about meetings on this blog but, this week, we’ll make the workplace kinder. Let’s spread some “Valentines” at work. Random acts of kindness Random acts of kindness are the easiest way to develop a more positive culture at work. You can do them anonymously – and on the go. It fits any culture type. But …

Individually, you can influence people to be more positive. When you do this in a conscious effort with a group, not only can you influence more others but you can also support each other. We all have doubts, or lack courage every now and then. A team can help you persist. Energizers So who are the others that can help …

Does your organization prefer Dyads or Triads? One-on-ones can be very productive and comfortable to exchange information. In the intimacy of our shared office, I can talk with that colleague sitting across from me. That feels safe if I trust her. I can discuss my insecurities or doubts about a project and she could coach me. (I won’t if I …

Welcome back to the Positive Power series. Here’s part 3 at the team and organization level of “WE”. Let’s see what interactions you see happening around you. Otto Scharmer discerns four levels of conversation in organizations. Downloading People are talking nice, they are polite. They reenact the rules of conversation. They “download” a conversation format. They hear what they expect …

Feedback can be positive as well, of course. Why not train yourself to give and receive positive feedback? It is a quick and easy way to contribute to a positive work climate and be a positive agent. That is if you are congruent and authentic. If you don’t mean it, don’t say it. It may be easy to forget giving compliments …

Did you ever receive clumsy feedback on the identity level that made you feel hurt, scared and worthless? Most of us did… The distinction between the levels of being and doing might help to receive feedback gracefully. If you imagine two circles, the inner circle is your being. It is not directly visible on the outside, but it is inside …

How do you feel when someone gossips or complains about someone else? It depends, of course. It can be great to agree because it creates a feeling of bonding. “The two of us agree and it’s us against that person or that issue”. It can be such a relief to vent. But it may not be what you’d like to …